Captains chart a global roadmap

MUMBAI: The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence gave a cinematic spin to the proceedings by using clips from Bollywood and Hollywood classics to portray corporate achievement.
The Big B of Bollywood in ‘Trishul’ applauded the emerging Big Brand of retailing, coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day. V.G. Siddhartha, chairman of Amalgamated Bean Trading Co.that has made Cafe Coffee Day a household name, was voted Entrepreneur of the Year. Paying tribute to his humble beginnings in the Western Ghats, Mr Siddhartha said that although his endeavour was still small and employed only 4,000 people, it had the potential to become much bigger, like his American counterpart Starbucks, which became a global coffee bar in just two decades.
Daring to dream on a global scale was a recurring theme through the winners’ speeches. One company that has already made its mark in the US was Company of the Year, Ranbaxy Laboratories. Dedicating the award to his 8,500 employees, D.S. Brar, CEO and MD of the pharma major, said, ‘‘Opportunity is tapping at our doorstep and the future belongs to those who can dream big and then execute them on the ground.’’
Emerging Company of the Year, iFlex Solutions’ chairman Rajesh Hukku, said that this was the first major recognition for his young software products company.
KM Birla said that he dreamt of making the A.V. Birla group a true multinational. Recalling his front-page ‘‘roasting’’ from ‘ET’ as a ‘‘multi-dimensional disaster’’ soon after he assumed the mantle of the group in 1995, the youngest-ever winner of the Businessman of the Year award said that the newspaper’s criticism had forced him to do a reality check and introspect about how the group was perceived. ‘‘I even thought of taking up pottery,’’ he joked.
Global Indian Amar Gopal Bose, who sent a video of his acceptance speech from Boston, said he was both honoured and embarrassed by the award. His speech traced the growth of the company from the time that it employed only one MIT student to its giant status today. In the bid to applaud global business initiative, the awards did not neglect the players at the grass-roots. And it was for enriching those at the grass-roots that the Godrej group earned the Corporate Citizen of the Year award. In his speech, Adi Godrej, chairman of the group, pointed out that it was as important for a company to be socially responsible as economically strong.
Lifetime Achievement Award winner Deepak Parekh said that he had always been amazed by the vigour with which the small borrower repaid loans.